A best-selling author says she’s in possession of a Dolly Parton album that no one has ever heard. According to Kim Michele Richardson, Dolly read her 2019 novel “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.” The historical fiction was inspired by the real-life Pack Horse Library Project, where women traveled through the Appalachian Mountains on horseback delivering books during the 1930s. Dolly, whose own Imagination Library could be considered the modern day equivalent to the Pack Horse Library Project, was so taken with the book, she sent the author a gift.

That gift? A complete 15-song album, all written and recorded by Parton and based on Richardson’s book. The author says she received the recordings from Dolly about four years ago, and the legend gave Richardson permission to use the songs however she wanted. The good news? We may eventually get to hear this unreleased gem. Richardson says plans were already being worked on to make the music available to the public before Parton died. “We’re working on things now,” Richardson said.